Pieces of me
by emmarizonatorres
Summary: The whole city of Storybrooke is trying to defeat a new threat : the Wicked Witch. While looking for a way to overcome her sister, Regina realizes something she would have never expected. Maybe, after all, Robin Hood wasn't her soul mate.
1. Zelena

**I have one chapter left before completing my SwanQueen fanfiction and I felt the need to write another one, so... Here I am ! **

"I am not powerful enough to defeat her, alright ?" Regina screamed on the top of her lungs. She felt helpless and worthless, she had always seen herself as the most powerful with in the whole world, but Zelena's presence made her feel extremely small and useless. "I can't face her on my own." It was difficult for her to admit that she couldn't win against the Wicked Witch, she couldn't believe that her own sister was that powerful. David looked at her, suddenly understanding that she actually was on their side and that she felt as powerless as they all felt.

"What should we do ?" He asked her. They had decided to talk about what to do at the diner, but only Regina, Emma, Belle, Ruby and David were allowed to be there. Snow White was confined at home, with Henry and a powerful protection spell on the whole building. They were aware that Zelena was after Snow's baby and they couldn't risk losing either of them.

"I thought a lot about this, because the Wicked Witch is an actual threat and I am scared she might even hurt Henry in order to get to _me_." She was the only one standing up, while all the others were sitting at different places around the diner. "I think Emma and I should combine our magic."

Emma, who wasn't really listening to what they were saying, was suddenly awakened from her thoughts. "We should do what ?" She asked, confused.

"Combine our magic, it's not that difficult." Regina commented. David looked terrified, while Ruby seemed extremely interested in what was going on. "You can easily learn what to do, I mean… I can teach you how to do it."

"But I can't even use my magic on my own… I mean… We have never actually tried it out, I just happened to use it a few times and, almost always, with your guidance… I used it on my own only twice and I didn't even know what I was doing ! " Emma wanted desperately to help, but she thought she'd be more helpful without using her magic. "I can't."

"You would be under my guidance, you don't need to know how to use it at all." Regina explained, knowing that it was their only chance. "Emma, you can do this."

"It sounds extremely dangerous." David commented, walking next to his daughter. "It can't be safe, she doesn't know how to use her powers."

Emma looked at him, rather annoyed. "I can decide what's safe or not safe for myself, thank you." David smiled a little, but only because sometimes he felt like if he had a teenager daughter, even if she was already thirty. "Tell me what I am supposed to do. We need to protect Henry and the only way to do so is to kill the bitch. Neal died because of her and I won't let her hurt _anybody_ else." She said, staring at Regina.

Regina grinned at her, realizing that, after all, Emma wasn't that bad. "You have to grab my hand and I will use our magic, for now."

"How does that work ?" Emma still didn't understand how magic worked and she hadn't had the time to practise her own.

"Look." Regina whispered, making a fireball appear in her hand. "See this ? It's a fireball and I can use it to destroy things."

She sounded like a teacher talking to a group of children, but Emma needed to completely understand the way it worked. "If I use this now, it can create damage, but it would never kill a witch. It's powerful enough to kill a normal human being though, if used the right way."

The fireball suddenly disappeared from her hand and she walked towards Emma, grabbing her hand as soon as she got in front of her. This made Emma quiver, because they were really close and she could smell Regina's perfume. Regina made another fireball appear in her hand, but it was much bigger.

"It's bigger." Emma noticed, surprised.

Regina nodded. "And even more powerful, it can create more damage. Can you see those light blue stripes ? It's your magic trying to overcome mine. We need to work together a lot, in order to make them interact in the right way. Apparently, your color is light blue, dear." She smiled at Emma, she looked way too cute with that curious face. "You are very powerful, Emma. You are the product of true love and this probably makes you the most powerful creature in our land."

Emma kept looking at the fireball, it was amazing. She couldn't believe that only grabbing Regina's hand could create all that magic. She wanted to ask more questions and to understand more about the relation her magic had with Regina's, but she was stopped by a sudden cloud of green smoke.

"Were you talking about me ?" Zelena said, interrupting Emma's curiosity. She instinctively let Regina's hand go to grab her gun, even if she was aware that it was powerless against the Wicked Witch.

"You shouldn't be this selfish, sister." Regina commented, with her usual grin.

"I know I scare you all." Zelena laughed. "And I can even imagine why, they are all aware that I am way more powerful than you are. You're weak and I will defeat you, Regina. I could use my magic as a baby, you couldn't even use it on your own as a young adult." Regina felt anger growing inside her chest, but she knew she couldn't attack Zelena, her powers were almost useless against her.

"Well, at least I wasn't abandoned by my own mother."

"Enough !" Zelena yelled on the top of her lungs. She made a rapid movement with her hand and a huge green energy ball appeared in it. Regina didn't have any time to react, because everything happened too fast. She knew she couldn't survive that kind of magic, but there was nothing she could possibly do to protect herself. She saw anger in her sister's eyes, a bright light and, then, everything went black.


	2. Force field

David was the first one to wake up, his body covered in dust and pieces of the wall. He realized that Zelena's energy ball had completely destroyed Granny's diner and that the girls were all still unconscious. He couldn't see Regina's body, but he rushed next to Emma's side, starting to scream her name. After a few minutes, Belle and Ruby woke up together, confused and covered in bruises.

"What happened ?" Belle asked, but nobody could actually answer to her question, they didn't know why a simple energy ball had been that powerful. "How did an energy ball destroy the whole diner ?"

"It wasn't the energy ball !" Ruby said, trying to get up. It was way too hard for her to even think about moving her legs. A piece of the counter was on her legs and she was clearly wounded. Belle rushed next to her to help her out, but she was too weak to lift the counter. She wanted to call David, but she was cut off by a familiar, hoarse voice.

"What the hell happened ? How did I survive that energy ball ? It destroyed the diner, but it didn't kill me, how's that even possible ?"

A cranky Regina was slowly getting up from the rest of a wall that had collapsed onto her. She saw that Ruby couldn't get up and moved the counter with a rapid movement of her hand, but there was nothing that she could do for her wounds. She looked at herself and she noticed that she wasn't hurt in any way, even if a wall had crushed on the top of her. She saw that Emma was still lying on the ground and she rushed by her side.

"Regina !" Ruby yelled from her spot. "I don't think the energy ball did this." Even without the counter on her legs, she couldn't get up and she had to wait on the ground.

"What do you mean ?" Regina asked, sitting next to Emma. She wanted to grab her hand so badly, but she knew that they wouldn't understand, so she limited herself to caress Emma's forehead.

"I think I saw a force field." Ruby commented, unsure how to explain this to Regina. "And I'm pretty sure it came from Emma's chest."

Regina suddenly understood what Ruby was trying to say and she started silently sobbing. She perfectly knew that Emma didn't cast that force field willingly, she didn't know how to, there was only one way to use magic without being aware of what she was doing.

"She… She can't… She doesn't know how to…" Regina stammered and Belle sat next to her.

"Magic can be controlled by one's heart. You know it well, she was trying to protect you." Regina felt her heart pinching as Belle's words slowly dissolved in the air around them.

"Why isn't she awake yet ?" David asked, but Regina didn't know what to say.

"I, euh… Her magic is really powerful and, maybe, her body wasn't ready for that kind of energy. Emma's not used to magic and she probably needs more time to recover, but we need to take her somewhere safe. I'll take her to my place, Henry can't see her like this, tell him that she's fine and that she's with me." Regina said, before disappearing with Emma in cloud of purple smoke. She placed Emma on her bed and never left her hand till Snow White knocked at her door. She took Emma's mother to her room and assisted while Snow White stared motionless at her daughter. She saw tears in her eyes, while her body started violently shaking.

"Is… Is she okay ?"

"She will eventually wake up, you don't have to worry. Her body probably couldn't support the magic her force field on me created." Regina explained, hoping Snow wouldn't blame her for Emma's conditions.

"A force field ? On you ?" She asked, surprised. When Regina nodded, she perfectly understood what had happened. "She did the same with against your mother."

"Against my mother ? What do you mean ?" Regina didn't know what had happened in the Enchanted Forest, she had no idea how Emma's powers first appeared.

"Your mother wanted my heart, but Emma pushed me out of the way to save me and Cora put her hand in her chest saying

_Oh, you foolish girl. Don't you know ? Love is weakness _

And then moved her hand to pull out Emma's heart, but it wouldn't come out… That's when Emma said

_No, it's strength _

And a sort of force field threw your mother away from her and we had the chance to jump in the portal to come back." Snow explained, she was still surprised by Emma's energy when it came to magic. "No wonder her own force field knocked her out."

"Love is strength." Regina repeated, sitting by Emma's side. She grabbed her hand once again and looked at her, hoping to see those beautiful eyes expressing all the feelings Emma was pushing under her feet. Snow was looking at the scene without saying a word, she was aware of Emma's feelings towards Regina, but her daughter's stubbornness wouldn't let her admit it. She had tried many times to talk to her, but Emma kept saying

"No, you're crazy."

Snow realized she had been right for so much time and, when Emma slowly started opening her eyes, she felt her heart glowing in joy. Regina started breathing heavily and she was getting agitated, but Emma smiled at her as soon as she completely understood where she was and who's hand she was holding.

"Hey.." Regina said, softly. "How are you feeling ?"

"I'm… I'm okay, I guess… What happened ?" Emma asked and Regina didn't know how she was supposed to tell her that her emotions had created a force field to protect her.

"You did the thing you did with Cora, when she tried to pull away your heart." Snow explained, understanding that Regina would have never been able to say it.

"Why would I do that ?" Emma asked, confused.

"Zelena was trying to hurt Regina." Snow said, before leaving her daughter and Regina alone.

"Did I hurt you ?" Emma asked, horrified. Regina noticed how cute Emma was when she was worried. She went from laying motionless on her bed to sitting with her eyes wide open.

"You did not. You saved my life, Emma." She smiled at her, squeezing her hand. Emma kept holding Regina's hand and she didn't seem to want to let her go.

"How did I do that ? It might come useful against Zelena."

"You can't control it, yet… We think you did it out of your emotions, the way you did against my mother." Regina explained and Emma suddenly blushed, trying to cover her face with the pillow that was next to her. Regina started giggling, shy Emma was even cuter than worried Emma. "It's okay, dear. Let me bring you something to drink." She softly said. She walked downstairs to find Snow sitting in her sofa, reading a newspaper.

"How did that go ? Did she tell you ?"

"What's 'that' ? And what exactly was she supposed to tell me ?" Regina asked, almost annoyed.

Snow put the newspaper on a coffee table that was in front of her and lifted her chin to look at Regina. "That she's in love with you."


	3. Purple smoke

"What ? Your daughter is not in love with me, Snow." Regina couldn't even bother looking at Snow, she was way too excited about Emma being up.

"Go, ask her." Snow simply said, before leaving the mansion. Regina froze right were she was before eventually deciding to go back upstairs. When she got to her room, she found Emma standing in front of her window.

"I wonder how many times you've looked out of this window to admire your little baby." Emma said, in a cold voice.

"I'm sorry, what ?" Regina asked, confused. "I guess you did hurt your head while falling, dear."

"No, I mean it." Emma said, while turning around to face her mother's enemy. "You can see the town from here, I wonder if you are actually proud of what you made."

Regina still couldn't understand what Emma meant. "Well, I used to be proud of this."

"You used to ?"

"Yes, I used to." Regina coldly said and Emma understood that she wasn't going to say anything more. "How are you feeling ? You shouldn't be standing up."

Emma looked at her, not understanding why she was so cold and detached. She knew that Regina had been holding her hand the whole time and she knew that she wouldn't let her go. "I'm fine and I don't need another mother, one is enough." The blonde decided to do exaclty what Regina was doing and opted for a cold answer.

"You do know that you're talking to your grandmother, don't you ?" Regina said and the cute smirk of hers made Emma quiver.

"You're not even old enough." Emma said and couldn't hide her smile.

"I know, it was different in our land, dear and I guess you understood that the only one from our land who actually aged... Is you. We were all this age when I cast the curse." Regina said, aware of how weird that could sound to Emma.

"I do know, yes. And... I wanted to talk to you about something."

"About what ?" Regina asked, curious.

"I know what my mother told you."

Regina froze again, unsure. What was she supposed to say ? She felt her heart racing in her chest and her hands suddenly started sweating. Emma looked at her, with a spontaneous smile on her face.

"She's right, Regina. But I wanted you to hear it from me. I know it's weird and impossible, I know it's foolish and incredibly selfish from me to do this, but... I do love you, Regina. With my whole heart."

Regina felt a weird pinch on her chest as Emma pronounced the words she had been waiting for for her entire life. She would have never expected them to come out of Snow White's daughter's mouth, but there they were, still floating in midst air. Emma wouldn't take her eyes off her, waiting for Regina to react, but the brunette just kept staring at her, unable to talk.

"I am in love with you, Regina." Emma added.

"I have to go." Regina said, before disappearing in a cloud of purple smoke. Emma remained motionless in her spot for a few minutes before realizing that Regina had actually gone. She didn't know what to think or what to do and she clearly didn't understand why Regina had avoided confronting her.

Regina sat on a three stump, holding her head with both her hands. She closed her eyes and started silently crying, desperately trying to hide her pain from herself as well. Her legs were shaking and she didn't even move when the rain started pouring all over her body. She kept thinking about what Emma told her, unable to process an adequate answer.

"I can't react this way, I need to do something." She thought, before angrily getting up. "I am the protagonist of my life, I can't live it as audience." She whiped away all her tears before disappearing once again to go back to her mansion. When she got to her room, Emma was still there, staring outside the window.

"I'm sorry I left." She whispered, but Emma didn't turn around to face her that time. "I didn't know what to say, you caught me by surprise."

"I know." She heard Emma's soft voice saying. The blonde was scratiching her head with her right hand and Regina couldn't help but smile at the sight. "It's okay."

Regina tried to approach her, but Emma begged her to stay right where she was. "I'm not going to look at you." She said and Regina suddenly noticed that Emma's voice sounded different... Cracked, broken.

"Don't... Don't cry." She said, feeling her heart being slowly crashed into a thousand of pieces. She touched Emma's shoulder, causing the blond to quiver. Emma eventually decided to turn around and Regina's breath stopped for a few seconds as the other woman's red, puffy eyes stared at her.

"Say something, Regina."

What was she supposed to say ? Emma looked so... In pain, destroyed, wrecked. She didn't want to cause any more pain, but she knew what she was supposed to do. There was absolutely no way for them to end up together and Regina was aware of that. Everything felt incredibly wrong and out of place, the whole situation seemed a nightmare,a beautiful nightmare. She closed her eyes for a second, trying to focus on the next words that were going to come out of her mouth. She had a huge weight on her chest and she felt the need to remove it, she needed to feel free, to regain control on her own life. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes again.

"I don't love you, Emma."


	4. I'm sorry

_She felt her little, destroyed world crush into way too many pieces to be collected. She stood there, motionless, unable to talk or to breathe for a few moments. Regina stood there, right in front of her, looking at her with pity. Emma had waited for her whole life to find the right person for her and she was sure that her soul mate was standing in front of her, why wouldn't Regina understand that they were meant to be ? It was obvious and everybody in the town knew that they were each other's true love and each other's cure._

"I'm sorry." The queen muttered before disappearing once again. She reappeared in the woods, there was no other place she could possibly go to hide. She sat in a tree stump, but got scared when she heard a familiar, masculine voice calling her name.

"Regina !"

She looked around to see Robin running towards her, holding his bow. "Regina !" He repeated when she didn't answer to him. When he got next to her, she noticed that his face showed extreme curiosity.

"Are you okay ?"

"My son has no clue who I am and I can't express my pure love to my soul mate, of course I'm okay." She snapped as Robin's eyes widened.

"Soulmate, huh ?" He asked.

"Emma told me that she's in love with me at the mansion." Regina began. "And I had to tell her that I feel nothing for her."

Robin looked at her in disbelief, not quite understanding what the queen was trying to say. "I tried so hard to hide my feelings, Robin, but this kind of feeling is overwhelming and it's suffocating me." She whispered, looking exhausted. She started violently sobbing and felt a little more secure as Robin wrapped his arms around her.

"Why do you feel the need to hide those feelings, Regina ?" He asked, trying to sooth her.

"Because it would be a weakness and I can't let Zelena have her. She threatened my son and I won't let her lay one single finger on Emma." She coudln't even look at him as she managed to talk with difficulty. Warm tears were streaming down her face as she thought about Zelena hurting Emma. They remained in silence for a few minutes before a question popped in Robin's mind.

"What happened to the Evil Queen ?"

"I'm sorry, what ?" She asked him, confused.

"I don't understand what happened to the Evil Queen. You are famous because of your cruelty and your viciousness, but the person I see right now is sweet and caring." He explained.

"I was a nice young lady, once. Love and despair made me evil, but I am not heartless, Robin. Well, I actually am right now, but I have lots of feelings. I have spent most of my life unable to detect them, I couldn't picture why I was so angry all the time. I knew that Daniel's death had affected me and that I would never find a person to love the way I loved him. Here in Storybrooke I got to discover a new kind of love when I met Henry for the first time and then... Then I realized that I could love again when he brought Emma in our lives." Her voice was different than normal and Robin could sense that. It was softer and somehow sweeter.

"Tell her, please, tell her." He commented.

"I can't. It could..."

"What, sis ?" Zelena's voice gave Regina shivers. "What could happen ? I might even try and hurt her." Hearing her sister laughing made Regina's rage grow stronger as she suddenly got up from the tree stump.

"You won't touch her !" Fireballs were already coming from her hands, but Zelena started laughing before disappearing. Regina sighed in despair, worried that Zelena might hurt Emma, who was probably still at the mansion, alone. Emma's magic was powerful, but she couldn't quite control it and it could probably make more harm than good.

"I have to go !" Regina yelled on the top of her lungs before following Zelena.

_Emma walked back to the window, wondering where Regina might have gone. Zelena was still out there and she didn't like the thought of having Regina all alone, because Zelena had demonstrated to be more powerful than her. She knew that the Wicked Witch was after Regina, but she couldn't quite understand why... Regina's life had been horrible and full of sorrow, why would anybody want that ? As she tried to find a reason why, she heard a familiar noise behind her back. Thinking to have heard Regina, she turned around and felt shivers all over her body as she saw Zelena standing in front of her._

_"Hello Emma."_


	5. Love is weakness

"Don't you dare touching her." Regina whispered as soon as she got in her bedroom. She felt guilty because she got there later that expected, Zelena was already threatening Emma.

Zelena's laughter made Emma quiver as she thought about how to escape from the deadly situation. She knew that she was powerful enough to fight against her, but she clearly wasn't able to control her own power. Magic was scary and, somehow, something she felt inside of her. She was willing to commit to it, to learn how to properly control it, but it was difficult and fairly out of her normal skills.

"Why should I listen to you, sis ?" Zelena asked, but Regina wouldn't let her frighten her. "I know how much she means to you, my poor, little Queen. Wouldn't it be a shame if you were to watch a relative of yours rip your true love's heart out right in front of you, _**again **_?" The emphasis Zelena put on the word "again" made Regina want to kill her right away, but she wasn't powerful enough and she wouldn't let her temper endanger Emma. She looked at the blonde, who was staring at her, with a questioning expression.

"Whoops," Zelena said, giggling. "you didn't know, did you ?"

Emma looked at her, a challenge in her eyes. "You don't know much about love, do you ?"

Regina and Emma could both see anger in Zelena's eyes. "It doesn't matter."

"Even if she didn't tell me, I felt it." Emma commented, smiling at Regina.

"This helps me even more, I thought you knew that your adorable soulmate's favorite quote is

-love is weakness-

because it is and it will destroy you both. I have nothing to lose, I am willing to pay whatever price will come with this curse, but you both have so much to lose. I will win."

She said, before disappearing in a cloud of green smoke. Regina instictively ran towards Emma and hugged her so tight she thought she might actually crush her.

But it didn't matter, their love was way too strong to be a weakness.

"You felt it ?" She asked, before pulling away.

"Yes, I felt it. Let me show you." Emma said, before kissing Regina. When she felt her lips touching Regina's, she finally understood what magic really meant. Her heart felt warmer that usual and she couldn't help but smile as she kissed her soulmate. She didn't want to let Regina go, but they needed to find a way to defeat Zelena, she was dangerous and they woulnd't let her hurt anybody else.

"It felt perfect." Was Regina's comment, before taking Emma's hand to walk downstairs, where they would think about what to do to defeat Zelena.

"Shall we call your parents and whoever can help ?" She asked, feeling a little bit unsure. How would Emma behave in front of the people she loved ? Would she hide what had happened ? Snow already knew about Emma's feeling, but knowing and seeing are two different things.

"We probably should, yes." The blonde said, while looking for her phone.


	6. Let's do this

**I'm sorry guys, but I'm studying for my exams and I won't be able to publish till mid-july, probably !**

"We need to find a way to defeat her, because I am not powerful enough." Regina explained, still holding Emma's hand. She wanted to get rid of the Wicked Witch, because she was trying to hurt as many people as she could. "We need to go back to my initial plan, combine our magic and hope that our magic will be enough."

The citizens of Storybrooke didn't like the words "hope" and they normally wouldn't trust her, but she was the only one to know how to use magic and magic was the only way to defeat the Wicked Witch.

"Let's do this." Emma said, talking for everyone. "What do we do ?"

Emma's innocence and ignorance about magic made Regina smile. "We wait for her to come back, dear."

It was the first time that she used the word "dear" without being ironic and everybody in the room noticed how soft her voice was whenever she was talking to Emma. It was clear that Regina's kindness towards the blonde made her less scary than she appeared before. People were starting to see her like a person with an actual soul and a heart. Zelena obviously didn't show up and they couldn't wait for her forever, so they simply went back to their own lives, knowing that she would, eventually, come back to threaten them again. Regina and Emma found themselves alone in the mansion, after the other went home.

"I'm sorry." Regina said, after a moment of silence.

"Why ?" Emma asked, puzzled.

"Because I ran away... I wasn't expecting you to say those things, I thought you'd say that your mother was kidding." Regina couldn't even look at her in the eyes. It was weird to see how the sassy, arrogant Evil Queen couldn't lift her chin to look at her.

"It's okay, I understand... It's scary, because our love is powerful."


End file.
